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BrewDog Nottingham is now open, officially, as in you can go and get a beer if it’s past mid-day and before 1am.

They also do pint glasses, I know what some blokes are like.

Last night I spent the evening in the spanking new BrewDog Nottingham on what was an officially unofficially but we’re officially open night, members of Nottingham CAMRA were there too, now according to some PR and some other ‘ranty’ articles I have read this should have resulted in scenes resembling wrestlemania 1988, yet nobody was oiled up, no fight broke out, nobody got dragon punched and no scenes that would make the Jeremy Kyle highlight reel erupted, it’s almost as if those people had willingly walked in and bought a beer, funny that eh?

"Hey is that an old school gym floor on the wall?"

I make no excuses for my love of other cities like Sheffield, where 10+ beer pubs are aplenty offering greater diversity and choice, an area in which I think Nottingham still can improve; so regardless of whether you welcome BrewDog Nottingham with open arms, or a double flip of the bird, it’s undeniable that they offer a range of beers that were previously unavailable, and that’s the important bit isn’t it, beer.

The guest draft board offering beers from around the world.

Oh god the beer, In Nottinghams sea of Castle Rock and Blue Monkey (both great brewers who do Nottingham proud) BrewDog Nottingham offers a genuine entirely different choice, now you’re not stupid, you can see from the pictures it’s not cheap, but until Tesco start offering imported beers on tap like Hitachino Nest, Stone, or Flying Dog, you either buy it or you don’t, and with promised themed brewery nights coupled with the ability to go up to 16 different beers on tap at once it’s worth checking out merely for the gems they import, and I do mean gems, on sampling Hitachino Nest – Japanese classic ale (7.5%) and Stone – Oaked arrogant bastard (7.2%) I instantly fell in love, which made me wonder why BrewDog need all the silly PR when they already offer something that people can’t get readily elsewhere.

BrewDog draft beers, and a squirrely bottle of 'the end of history'

What about the BrewDog beers? well, I didn’t try all 9 on at the time (sorry) but the 3-4 I had where absolutely great, Punk IPA was very tasty, poles apart from my previous experience with it ‘on keg’ and special praise goes to Protoype 17.6, a mix of trashy blonde and raspberries, proof that cocking about can lead to great things!

Nottingham has just got another drinking choice and it’s a great one and not at all much abrew about woofing, to quote BrewDogs irritating twitter feed, ‘pow‘ pow indeed sir, pow indeed.

BrewDog Nottingham is located on 20 Broad Street, next to the Broadway cinema, remember they have an old school gym floor on the walls, yes, really.

In the absence of the Newark Beer festival 3 pubs came together to create their own, Just Beer, The Prince Rupert and The Castle forming a 3 pronged attack; and beer festival or not, I was extremely impressed by them all.

The Castle

First up was the castle, simply because I had spotted it from the car. ‘Simple food and traditional ales’ summed this place up well, mostly because it did simple food and traditional ale.

I saw no men biting dogs.

The Castle is deceptively large stretching far back and having numerous spots to sit or stand, even on a busy Saturday night we found a booth quite easily. Beer wise a strong 6 adorn the bar at all times giving you plenty to choose from, the bar staff where skilled and more than happy to get beer from the cellar (there was a festival on at the time)

This 'normal' strong line-up of 6 at the time was complimented by 3 further festival beers direct from the cellar.

The castle offers a good range of seating and small booth areas (not pictured) this was on a busy Saturday night.

Would I recommend The Castle? absolutely, it has tremendous character and atmosphere and already I was thinking about return visits to Newark…

The Prince Rupert

This wasn’t the first time I’d been to the Prince Rupert, I went on new years eve and elected to drive, so despite having an excellent selection on the bar at the time I could have a mere two halves! I said to myself the selection surely couldn’t get any better this time, I was wrong.

The Prince Rupert looks fantastic from the outside.

The normal bar line-up as you can see below was strong to say the least, I got a picture of the festival beers on sale but unfortunately due to it being Saturday night they had been absolutely torn through! A shame as Maypole – Indian Vanilla Ale was on sale, a beer that intrigued us all, alas this had sold out promptly on the Friday night.

As well as the inside, Magic Rock, Blue Monkey and Thornbridge on sale at the time, along with the excellent house bitter 'ruperts war dog'

Regardless of festival disappointment the Prince Rupert is an excellent venue at all times, with an array of drinking areas coupled with a large outdoor smoking area all bases are covered. The house beer ‘Ruperts war dog’ is worth seeking out alone, nevermind the strong line-up that regularly adorns it.

Just Beer

I saved the best till last, to say I was impressed with Just Beer is a huge understatement, we actually visited here before we went to the Prince Rupert but it was literally wall to wall, we opened the door ONTO somebody, which was never a good sign! Thankfully we came back later…

Just Beer, I just love how simple the exterior is, no messing.

There’s something about a pub where the staff walk round with amusing hats, the whole place just oozes simple real ale geekery, its brutal simplicity made it exceptionally easy to work out why this had won Newark CAMRA pub of the year, and that’s not to say the above two pubs didn’t deserve it, it’s just that Just Beer is literally the next level, an ale drinkers paradise.

As you can see from the picture, they strive to get different beers from around the country

Just beer is a long thin pub which reminds me of many places in Amsterdam (pubs!)

The beer selection (regardless of the festival on at the time!) was fantastic, I support CAMRA’s LocAle scheme but more often than not those I go out drinking with want to try something outside of ‘the norm’ so it was refreshing to see such an unusual and eclectic mix of beers from all over the country supported by staff willing to advise and clearly knew what they were on about.

I'm no pork pie fan, but from those that chose to partake, I'm told it was excellent

Newark then is a bit of a gem, and given the proximity of these 3 pubs ‘beermuda triangle’ festival or not I will be back soon, door to door of each is merely 2 minutes of walking and quite frankly these 3 pubs alone form a convenient trio that yet again leaves Nottingham city centre trailing behind.

Nottingham CAMRA have created a juggernaut that quite simply does not look like stopping, and the cat is now well and truly out of the bag!

We have a few pubs we need to look at but first I had to sign the 2011 festival off with a (very!) short article, despite going two out of the three days I didn’t manage to see everything the festival had to offer, I managed to catch a mere one act at the band stand and only had a nosey round maybe a quarter of the stalls set up! I did bag some curry chocolate though which I certainly hope will be back in 2012.

One massively important lesson to learn from 2011 was it’s now being finally recognised as the number 1 beer festival in at least the UK as reflected in the ticket sales, 2012 I think will see ticket sales far exceeding even this year (which caught many out) as people ensure their entry, I wouldn’t be surprised to see even Thursday becoming a lot busier with Friday and Saturday again being mostly ticket only.

How on earth does it to continue the trend of improving every year? somehow it does, 2011 had 928 beers and 170 ciders/perry; hopefully 2012 will break the magic 1000 beers mark! heres a couple of interesting takes on the festival,

We will be tweeting live from the Nottingham Beer festival 2011, get involved! tweet us your tips or ‘avoids’ to @NottsBrew or leave a comment here!

I’m not bothering recommending reserve beers as nobody knows when they will be on, but Hoppkins is, so there will be a couple in the mix but if there’s an obvious omission (ie last year’s winner Kipling) this may be why. A few perhaps ‘expected’ breweries are not represented this year at the festival, maybe some of them spent too much time calling everyone ‘scamp’ and constantly trying to sell them shares (even when like me, you’re already a shareholder!) Recent Sheffield festival 2011 winners Bradfield’s omission reminds us all we need to go to Sheffield now and again!

So without further ado, here are our sure fire ‘no lose’ tips on this once again world record breaking festival, (short printable list at the bottom of the page)

Milkmans’ Tips in Black Hoppkins’ Tips in Blue

Castle Rock

002Harvest Pale 3.8%006Screech Owl 5.5%

Ok it’s entirely lame to recommend this beer really given that you can get it from pretty much most Nottingham pubs! (certainly all Castle Rock establishments) but it did win national beer of the year 2010, and for that reason it deserves a mention.

Nice and strong, very hoppy and totally excellent.

Brew Company

038Cut Throat IPA 5.4%

Ah the Brew Company, one of Sheffield’s many fine breweries and brewer of one of my favourite beers of 2011, they only have 2 beers here, expect them both to sell out quickly.

Full Mash

078Bhisti 6.2%

This very beer kicked my arse last weekend at the Portland Arms, deliciously drinkable (perhaps too much so) tread carefully!

Thats a lot of IBUs (International Bittering Units, basically how bitter the beer is) The average is between 40-75 I would say for regular beers and IPAs. One i will be trying for sure.

Funfair

082 Dodgem 4.7%

Always loved funfair ales and dodgem is one of the best. Nice, pale and strong.

Springhead

225The Leveller 4.8%

Another one that’s quite easy to get round Nottingham but it’s a very accessible and delicious dark beer.

Blue Monkey

303Infinity 4.6%304 Guerrilla 4.9%
306Big Blue 6.8%

Ah Blue Monkey with your cheeky new mini, both Infinity and Big Blue are freely available at the Organ Grinder (the blue monkey flagship pub) but make no mistake both are knock out beers, especially the Big Blue weighing in at 6.8%, as with Full Mash – Bhisti, take it easy!

Infinity is without a doubt in my top 10 beers of all time, grapefruity and refreshing! Guerrilla is one of the few darker ones I can quaff with reckless abandon.

Alkazar

314Vixens Vice 5.2%

Had it fresh in the Fox and Crown, a delight with curry. Failing that fine without!

Brampton

333Golden Bud 3.8%337Golden Bud Speciale 5.8%

Speciale is one of my favourites and it’s good to see it back year after year, a delicious drink and if it’s a bit too strong for you try its younger brother.

Derventio

366Cleopatra 5.0%

Complex and fruity, one of few beers good in a bottle as well as cask, my favourite from the Derventio stable

Great Oakley

401Wagtail 3.9%

Last year Wot’s Occurring was the best new beer I had tried at the festival, alas it doesn’t appear to have made it back! They do have 6 beers on mind (400 -> 406) I chose Wagtail because of the NZ hops. I wouldn’t blame you for trying more of their beers though!

Hook Norton

413Hooky Gold 4.1%

Hook Norton do a steady range, Hooky Gold gets the tip of my hat for this one, edging the also consistently good Old Hooky.

Dancing Duck

442Nice Weather 4 Ducks 4.1%

Described as fruit salad in a glass though I don’t personally think it’s quite that extreme, but if you don’t like fruit salad maybe give it a miss, unless they took the blacks out, or is that midget gems? I dunno.

Loddon

456Hoppit 3.5%457Hullabaloo 4.2%459Bamboozle 4.8%

Boy do I like Loddon beers, consistently superb and the 3 above I have had on numerous occasions yet they have never disappointed, just great and unfortunately hard to get here in Nottingham, be warned, they usually sell out quickly for this reason.

Milestone

475Raspberry wheat beer 5.6%

Potentially hit and miss, when its good…its good when its not…well you get the idea

Potbelly are another firm favourite of mine and their entire beer range is generally excellent, and be warned, these also tend to sell out very quickly!

Rebellion

513Rebellion IPA514Rebellion Mutiny 4.5%

Another favourite making a triumphant return, as with the other popular excellent brewers these sell out very quickly!

Titanic

536Iceberg 4.1%

Years back I thought this was rubbish, turns out I had a bad pint, even in bottle form this is a wonderfully crisp beer, razor sharp and thirst quenching.

Thornbridge

573Sequoia 4.5%579Jaipur 5.9% (if you’re new to this and have never tried it)

Oddly last year’s beer of the festival Kipling is on the reserve list, it’s pretty much a sure fire bet that this area will be sold out by Friday unless they have reserve barrels (likely) I love and hate Thornbridge, they’re the Manchester United of real ale.

Supreme? no they still don’t brew it, swines! So I suppose we all have to ‘make do’ with the rest of their range. They will bring back Supreme someday though, infact if you buy a Nottingham beer ask them to brew it again! (supreme that is, not the beer you just bought)

EPA as always a firm favorite of mine. Pale and delicious, Legend is one of those greats you can just drink and drink, always worth a go and increasingly hard to find.

Magic Rock

676High Wire 5.5%

Magic Rock are already making waves despite being a relatively new brewery, I’m hoping to try some of their other beers, but High Wire is definitely one to recommend.

Oldershaw

711Alma’s Brew 4.1%

The sublime Heavenly Blonde would have to be on bloody reserve wouldn’t it, oh well ‘make do’ with Alma’s Brew, which I tip as slightly better than the often spotted round Nottingham Old Boy.

Prior’s Well

718Gardners Tap 3.8%

I had no idea these guys where from Nottingham, I have only seen their beers sold in Sheffield! Regardless I have had Gardners tap twice and it’s a top drink, they have quite a range on so give the others a try too.

Steel City

743Westby Rant 5.2%

Where the hell is Steel City’s superbly named Masters of the Spooniverse!? gutted, I could have a rant about that, but instead you can try a Westby Rant, terrible link and I’m off to hang my head in shame.

Acorn

911Quantum 4.5%

I have had numerous Acorn beers and they have all been excellent, I have yet to try Quantum but unless it tastes of the dishwasher powder of the same name, it’s a safe bet.

Dark Star

913Hophead 3.8%

A very popular brew this and it’s not hard to see why, this is there only beer on at the festival so expect it to sell out pronto.

@simonhjohnson @NottsBrew Hopshackle Aniseed Porter and Resination, especially the latter. Fantastic West Coast USA-style IPA
(108 for the porter, and 109 for the Resination, 7.0% though!)

Beers I am suggesting purely on speculation or a good name! (I have yet to try these and will be working my way through myself!) at least you can tweet us your thoughts if you try any @NottsBrew

Burnside

047Mad Dogz IPA 3.8%

As a life time Notts fan ‘Mad Dog’ Martin Allen has been a breath of fresh air at meadow lane, will his namesake be as good here? A dry Golden IPA suggests so.

Craddocks

055Billy Nomates 4.8%

Oh Billy, sitting in the corner alone, IPA with New Zealand hops suggests this will infact have quite a few mates.

Grafters

091YIPPEE I.P.A. 5.2% (NOTTSBREW PUNTASTIC NAME OF THE FESTIVAL)

A Die hard reference! I don’t really care that it has strong fruity floral aromas, ‘next time you have a chance to try this beer, don’t hesitate’ – ‘thanks for the advice!’

Moorview

144Goldilocks & the 3 beers 3.6%

A cheesy name with 3 malts and is a refreshing golden ale, sold!

North Riding

149Pedros Shorts 3.7%

Nelson Sauvin is a green light for me, as is working with a man called Pedro who recently had to stop wearing shorts due to a company clothes policy, couldn’t make it up!

Tunnel

549Honnibal Necter 5.0%

Honey, citrus and bittersweet assumedly no cannibalism is involved.

Foxfield

640Sonic Encouter 4.0%

The program notes say this ‘A new beer, brewer has no idea of taste!‘ what kind of idiot sends a beer without a clue of its taste? A BALLSY ONE THATS WHO, and that’s why I am recommending this, so what if it transpires to actually tasting like balls.

Partner’s

716God’s Own Ale 4.2%

Blimey don’t be subtle about it! you’re like one of those overly proud parents to toot your horn like that, unless you’re referring to the 1991 amiga game by the bitmap brothers, I tell you what I’m just going to pretend you are and recommend it.

It’s never easy when your bigger brother is a lot more successfull than you are and unfortunately the Royal Childrens’ bigger brother the Salutation Inns ever strong popularity has given the Royal Children an absolute mountain to climb.

To let, let's hope someone does. This was taken on what should have been a busy Friday night.

So much has been tried here but it just never seemed to work and yet believe it or not the Royal Children 2 years or so ago had the best beer selection in Nottingham with all 8 pumps serving quality ale; and they where quick to pick up on the popularity of the Thornbridge stable offering 2 or 3 of their beers at once.

As time went on however the selection of beers began to drop noticeably likely due to them unfortunately not selling, the blues bar and live music didn’t even seem to get many people in, as the end drew closer Fridays would often only have a handful of paying customers. Towards the bitter end all the ale was pretty much gone, with 1 pump offering some generic rubbish, and the rest being a Fosters-fest, massively sad, and we hope to see this great pub with massive potential back on its feet again soon.

Well there are plenty of newcomers to the brewing scene in Nottingham, but rather than get swept up in all that let’s take a look at one that’s been around for a bit, brewing from the Fox & Crown in Basford the Alcazar Brewery.

Alcazar started brewing in 1999, whilst that’s still relatively recent they’ve been brewing since well before the recent real ale resurgence, though you would be forgiven for not knowing who they are as I have only ever seen their beers on sale at the Nottingham Beer festival or the Fox and Crown itself, but then they are a small brewery.

This lack of exposure doesn’t mean they do ale not worthy of it, far from it, they have a good stable of beer with Sherrifs Gold and Black Fox both excellent session choices though I will admit to not having tried the whole range due to availability! It would be nice to see them spread out a bit more, but the Nottingham real ale scene is becoming a tremendously fierce battle ground, it seems to survive you need to get some brews with the popular US and NZ hop imports, let’s hope they do.

They show sky sports, which isn't for everyone, but most ale pubs nowadays choose not to.

The Fox and Crown is a great traditional pub in easy walking distance of the Basford tram stop, and it would be rude to not goto the also excellent Horse and Groom whilst you’re in the area!

As Radfordlad points out in the comments below, CAMRA discount is 25p off a pint, and they do thai food though I have yet to try it.

33 Church Street, Old Basford, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, NG6 0GA

*Note Alcazar beers are available in bottles, I have tried a few and whilst being passable as with most bottled beer they’re nowhere near as good as on draft.

The Goosebury Bush has a lot of work to do, and seems to be doing it so far, the other Wetherspoons’ in Nottingham city center are in an embarrasingly ropey state and are long overdue a complete overhaul, the recent opening of the TBI only further highlighted just how bad its city center counterparts are. Both the Roebuck Inn and the Joseph Else in my first hand experience have been guilty of having a pint returned to be tried by the barman, him commenting on how it ‘tastes of vinegar’ offering a replacement pint, and then leaving the other ‘bad’ one for sale until assumedly it runs out. No wonder many people are put off drinking real ale.

The pub has some interesting features including artwork, stained glass, and some odd woodworked tables, that made balancing a pint tricky!

Previous owners Varsity ended up selling to Wetherspoons, it’s worth pointing out at this point that the Goosebury Bush, or what once was Varsity is about 2 minutes if that from Nottingham Trent University; I would have thought it would be easy to hoover student money up from a pub placed here, or maybe it was and they wanted to cash in, who knows? and thinking about it, who cares? So what’s it like…

(if you’re wondering how to find it, follow the tram tracks out of Nottingham, turn right up the hill when you see a cemetary)

As you would expect from a brand new pub it’s all very tidy, how long this is set to last for remains to be seen, I just hope it doesn’t fall foul of student abuse! There are many very comfy leather sofas and soft chairs and plenty of dinner tables dotted around, including some in the unique overlooking point of the pub, alas it only overlooks a carpark, oh well.

One half of the ale selection, note that this is opening day and running off its 'starter pack'

This picture is as blury as this side of the bars ale is generic

10 ale pumps sets the tone and whilst the selection is currently somewhat generic this is more down to the ‘starter pack’ new ‘spoons pubs get given, speaking to the barman revealed that only 2 are ‘must stocks’ where as the other 8 are open to guests from Nottingham and further afar, given time this could be a bit of a gem, and it hopefully increases pressure on the other city center Wetherspoons dossholes.

Is it worth a visit? yes, even more so when the beer selection gets into gear, we will revisit in a couple of weeks and see what’s what, until then the Dr says drink some beer.

The Organ Grinder opens this Friday at 4pm, with free pork pies assumedly while they last!

There’s been a lot of talk, and given our web stats a lot of interest in Blue Monkeys new flagship boozer The Organ Grinder; head honcho John Hickling himself was kind enough to let us have a nosey round and answer a few questions this afternoon.

8 pumps, beers facing away on the corner right are the regular Blue Monkey beers BG Sips and Guerilla

4 Blue Monkey beers will be available, 2 rotating and 2 regulars. The other 4 being proper guests, not just sourced from around Nottingham. John himself was enthusiastic about the selection, with beers and lagers (more about that in a moment) coming from all over the place backed up by a landlord with over 30 years experience, 2 of which running the award winning Crown at Beeston, it’s not hard to see why!

Money is being talked about more than ever, if you want a cheap pint Batemans XB is always on at £2.20 a pint, it’s a steady drink, and that’s a good price for the budget conscious, Blue Monkey beers vary in price but the excellent session beer Original will be £2.50 a pint, again a reasonable price, and if you can’t get a good pint of it here I don’t know where you will.

Being a freehouse allows you to do what you wish with your drinks, and it’s nice to see such a fine selection of lagers, ciders, and fruit wines, these are often overlooked by other pubs. The saying goes you can’t please everyone all of the time, but they’re giving it a go! They’re even going to be doing tea and coffee…

Yes that burner works, and will be on "as soon as it's cold enough"

Work was still ongoing during our visit, but it looks set to be easily one of the best pubs in Nottingham and is likely to be the jewel in the crown of a canning circus pub crawl that must be looking more and more tempting than ever!

I like local beer and support the LocAle scheme but variety is a good thing, so it’s nice to see a traditional pub that serves local ales but isn’t shy to reach out to other parts of the country. The Horse and Groom at Basford is one of these quality pubs offering a good mix with excellent variety and is a good place to visit if you fancy a proper ‘guest’ beer.

Occasionally further ale is offered direct from the cellar.

With open fires and multiple quirky rooms it’s always a pleasure to visit, especially if they have a festival on as they tend to open up the large function room at the rear.

As well as bold beer choices from around the country it’s one of few pubs to offer a permanent mild pump, which is very nice to see as it caters for all drinkers.

Just some of the seating area, there's plenty more.

Being only a very short tram journey from the city center it’s a pub anyone who likes their ale should be trying, or indeed as we did you can even combine it with other pubs to create a tram pub crawl, as long as you drink responsibly of course.

You can find out more about this great pub and its interesting history (based next to the old Shipstones brewery) by visiting the official website,http://www.horseandgroombasford.com/